Dear Alumni,

Greetings for the Feast!

Hope you are all safe and taking care of yourself, your family and people who might need your help. I am sure there are many needy people around us looking for help from us, Xavierites.

As you know, your alma mater, St. Xavier’s College, has recently completed 151 years and we are in our 11 th year as the first autonomous college in Mumbai University, still marching ahead, academically, socially and spiritually, strong as usual. As of now, 22 colleges in Mumbai have followed our footsteps and opted for Autonomy. It gives us a good feeling of being pioneers in this area.

Let me update you on some achievements of the college in the last five years.

• 90 th Rank (College Category) at the National level by MHRD’s National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2020. St. Xavier’s is the only Mumbai college in the top 100, and only the 3 rd in Maharashtra. And our main aim is to move towards featuring in the top 10 colleges in India.

• College secured an A Grade (GPA: 3.63 / 4) in the third cycle of accreditation (2013) by NAAC and we will be going for the fourth cycle in October 2020.

• In 2015 Heritage Grant awarded by the UGC, under the MHRD, Government of India.

• College of Excellence Award in 2014 by the UGC, under the MHRD, Government of India.

• Certificate of Excellence by the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) for Best Institute Serving a Social Cause in February 2014.

• Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Star Status (2014) to Botany, Chemistry, Life Science, Microbiology, Physics & Zoology. DBT Star Scheme Grant to Mathematics (2015) & Statistics (2016).

• Rashtriya Ucchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Govt of Maharashtra, recently recognized eight autonomous colleges from Maharashtra and awarded a 5 Cr grant for its infrastructure. We have well utilized our first instalment and are waiting for the next instalments.

• Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (DBT), has recently (July 2020) awarded the BUILDER grant to the college for our PG Departments, to improve our research infrastructure.

• In the year 2019-20, in response to the need of the industry, we have started an MSc in Big Data Analytics in collaboration with TCS; MSc in Astrophysics with the help of TIFR & AYUKA; MA in Psychology (Lifespan Counselling), PG Diploma in Expressive Arts Therapy; and several other diplomas and certificate courses.

• Diploma in Inter-Religious Studies (complete online course).

• Diploma in Event Planning and Experiential Marketing as a joint venture of XIC and SXC.

• During the Covid 19 lockdown period, 2000 plus students benefitted from Free Online courses under the Coursera for Campus programme, of which we are partners.

We also plan to start an MA in Economics & another MA in Art Conservation, in collaboration with the TATA Trust, from 2021-22. A PG Diploma in Travel & Tourism will also take off from the next academic year. We are also planning to start an introduction to AI for all in the next academic year and we are looking for collaboration for the same.

At present, the new academic year has begun with online lectures and our students and staff are enjoying this new pedagogy from their respective homes.

So, as you see, we have been moving ahead towards our goal of becoming St Xavier’s University, Mumbai – and we need your support for the same.

Thank You,

Dr Rajendra Shinde

Principal